15 August 2012

On television, in books, out in the blogosphere everyone today is celebrating the visionary Julia Child.'s centennial year. It was 100 years ago today that this engaging woman was born in Pasadena, California. We are all blessed to be among those who owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Julia Child for her tireless guidance, enlightenment, inspiration, and encouragement through the decades. She set a tremendous example for us, not only with her culinary expertise, but also with her marvelous sense of humour, and her indomitable grace and aplomb in sticky situations and live television. Her work speaks for itself!!! Bloopers such as “First you take a leek…” would perhaps have destroyed the career of those less self-assured than our Julia.

Ever since the film Julie and Julia came out, it seems Julia Child is on everyones radar, foodies and non-foodies alike. The fact that Julia started her passion for food and cooking so late in life makes us "kindred spirits" although, like me, I am sure she had a passion for food from the very beginning, she just didn't know it. She is so inspiring to me because of her outlook on life and her unending joy for her chosen path. I’m happy to say her wonderful recipes and independent spirit live on.

If you are interested in a recipe I am resurrecting Julia's recipe for Caesar Salad. At the time when she created this recipe for her cookbook she was probably one of the few people around who had witnessed the real Caesar Cardini making his salad. She was about 9 years old when her parents took her to his restaurant in Tijuana, just the other side of the border from San Diego. As excerpted from her book, when Caesar Cardini first served his famous salad in the early 1920s, he used just the hearts of the romaine lettuce, the tender short leaves in the center, and he presented them whole exactly like this recipe from Julia Child. The salad was tossed and dressed, then arranged on each plate so that you could get your hands into it and pick up each leaf by its short end and savour every bite. Many customers didn't like to get their fingers covered with egg-and-cheese-and-garlic dressing, so he changed to the conventional torn leaf type of salad. Too bad, since the salad lost much of its individuality and drama. I decided to resurrect the original Caesar salad from Caesar's at home... providing my guests with plenty of big paper napkins. I love to eat with my hands!!! It's so primal!!! As Julia would always say, Bon Appetit.

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.

I am having so much fun reading everyone's tributes today. I've been grinning ear to ear -- proof of her amazing spirit and the effect she's had on us all. I had no idea she had a Caesar salad or that she actually saw the original made. We love making ours with the whole spear of romaine and just cut it like we would a steak. Makes me want some right now just thinking of it!

Val, what a fun history of Caesar salad and Julia! Love learning about the original presentation, I think I like that way better too. I have a large pack of Romaine in my fridge, I didn't know that it was just waiting for this post to be transformed into something wonderful!

Julia had such a delightful sense of humor! I used to watch her TV shows and they always made me laugh while learning.I am not a Caesar salad lover, but my daughter is. And over the years, I have watched the various salads she's been served. Frankly, the original version is the one she likes..and there are restaurants that still serve it that way. Cutting up romaine is a crime, really.

Good post Val. When I first became interested in actual cooking (have always been interested in eating, cooking was a different story), I taught myself how to cook with Julia Child and Jacque Pepin's books. I used to read them by the hour and known even to get out of bed at 11:00 at night and start baking a cake that inspired me in one of their books. You wrote a lovely tribute to an inspiring cook we all owe something to.

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My blog More Than Burnt Toast has been my passion for almost 9 years and has evolved with me over time as I have gained confidence in the kitchen. Follow my travels through Italy and Greece one recipe at a time, upcoming cooking classes at local Okanagan wineries and restaurants, as well as daily experimentation in my own kitchen. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market. I look forward to getting to know you.